Retail tech SaaS platform Mercaux has closed a £3.5 million (~$4.5M) Series A funding round led by European VC fund Nauta Capital. The 2013 founded London-based startup sells software for retailers to tap into digital capabilities in their physical retail stores — offering a modular platform that’s intended to support digital transformations at a pace of the […]
View More Mercaux bags $4.5M to help bricks-and-mortar retail tool up to sell moreCategory: CRM
SAP agrees to buy Qualtrics for $8B in cash, just before the survey software company’s IPO
Enterprise software giant SAP announced today that it has agreed to acquire Qualtrics for $8 billion in cash, just before the survey and research software company was set to go public. The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of 2019. Qualtrics last round of venture capital funding in 2016 raised $180 […]
View More SAP agrees to buy Qualtrics for $8B in cash, just before the survey software company’s IPOCustomer service ‘behavioral pairing’ startup Afiniti quietly raised $130M at a $1.6B valuation
Artificial intelligence touches just about every aspect of the tech world these days, aiming to provide new ways of making old processes work better. Now, a startup that has built an AI platform that tackles the ever-present, but never-perfect, business of customer service has quietly raised a large round of funding as it gears up […]
View More Customer service ‘behavioral pairing’ startup Afiniti quietly raised $130M at a $1.6B valuationOracle acquires DataFox, a developer of ‘predictive intelligence as a service’ across millions of company records
Oracle today announced that it has made another acquisition, this time to enhance both the kind of data that it can provide to its business customers, and its artificial intelligence capabilities: it is buying DataFox, a startup that has amassed a huge company database — currently covering 2.8 million public and private businesses, adding 1.2 […]
View More Oracle acquires DataFox, a developer of ‘predictive intelligence as a service’ across millions of company recordsMeet the startups in the latest Alchemist class
Alchemist is the Valley’s premiere enterprise accelerator and every season they feature a group of promising startups. They are also trying something new this year: they’re putting a reserve button next to each company, allowing angels to express their interest in investing immediately. It’s a clever addition to the demo day model. You can watch […]
View More Meet the startups in the latest Alchemist classMicrosoft launches new AI applications for customer service and sales
Like virtually every other major tech company, Microsoft is currently on a mission to bring machine learning to all of its applications. It’s no surprise then that it’s also bringing ‘AI’ to its highly profitable Dynamics 365 CRM products. A year ago, the company introduced its first Dynamics 365 AI solutions and today it’s expanding […]
View More Microsoft launches new AI applications for customer service and salesZendesk expands into CRM with Base acquisition
Zendesk has mostly confined itself to customer service scenarios, but it seems that’s not enough anymore. If you want to truly know the customer behind the interaction, you need a customer system of record to go with the customer service component. To fill that need, Zendesk announced it was acquiring Base, a startup that has […]
View More Zendesk expands into CRM with Base acquisitionThe Pansar Augmented watch hides it smarts behind an analog face
The Pansar Augmented is a Swedish smart watch that looks like a standard three-handed wristwatch. However, with the tap of a button, you can view multiple data points including weather, notifications, and even sales data from your CRM. Pansar is a Swedish watch company that uses Swiss movements and hand assembled components to add a […]
View More The Pansar Augmented watch hides it smarts behind an analog faceArm acquires data management service Treasure Data to bolster its IoT platform
Arm, the semiconductor firm you probably still remember as ARM, today announced that it has acquired Treasure Data, a data management platform for large enterprise customers. The companies didn’t announce the financial details of the transaction, but earlier reporting by Bloomberg pegged the price at $600 million. This move strengthens Arm’s IoT nascent play, given that […]
View More Arm acquires data management service Treasure Data to bolster its IoT platformSquare now lets developers use its Reader to build custom checkout experiences
Square, the company you know from your favorite coffee shop’s checkout counter, is opening up its Reader hardware to developers. Using the new Square Reader SDK, developer swill be able to build their own custom checkout and point of sale experiences, no matter wether that’s a self-ordering kiosk, a mobile app for waiters or any […]
View More Square now lets developers use its Reader to build custom checkout experiencesWhat every startup founder should know about exits
The dream of a startup founder can often be summarized by the following well-intentioned, and mostly delusional, quote: “We’ll raise a few rounds and in a few years we’ll IPO on Nasdaq.”
View More What every startup founder should know about exitsFreshworks raises $100M
Freshworks, a company that offers a variety of business software tools ranging from IT management to CRM for sales and customer support software, today announced that it has raised a $100 million funding round co-led by Sequoia and Accel Partners, with participation from CaptialG. The company’s last funding round came in the form of a […]
View More Freshworks raises $100M